Re: How to detect what file was installed?

["Karl E. Jorgensen" <karl.jorgensen@nice.com>]

On Wed, Nov 07, 2012 at 10:25:52AM +0000, houkensjtu wrote:
> Hi debianer!
> I am rather new to linux and debian.
> Here is my "stupid" question:

I do not believe in the existence of stupid questions.  But stupid *answers* really do exist.

> Usually I use aptitude to search for a package, and install and
  uninstall packages. My problem is, I can't figure out what files apt
  copied into my computer, and where were those files installed.

To see what files were installed by package "X", ask dpkg:

$ dpkg --listfiles X

e.g.

$ dpkg --listfiles bash

To ask the reverse question: "What package gave me file X?", dpkg can also help:

$ dpkg --search X

e.g.

$ dpkg --search /bin/bash

> I know I can use the "which" command to detect where a executable
> file reside in, but how about all the other stuff?

Other stuff? You need to be slightly more specific here :-)

> Further, if I am not using apt but compile a software from source
  code, what is the proper way to find out what/where did the
  installation copied to my system?

Ah - once you're installing stuff without using the packaging system,
the packaging system cannot help.  Hopefully (unlikely) the software
itself can tell you.

But if you insist on installing from source (I'd recommend that you
dont - build Debian packages from source instead!), then you should
look into the "checkinstall" and/or "stow" packages.

Hope this helps

-- 
Karl E. Jorgensen